Niels Laros completed a unique distance double by winning the men’s 800m at the Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships on Sunday (20).
Bergen 2025 is being live streamed on the European Athletics website courtesy of Eurovision Sport.
A rare range
The brilliant Dutch runner, sixth over 1500m at the Paris Olympics, possesses a rare range across the distance disciplines, and he proved his incredible versatility as he sprinted clear from a high-quality field to add gold to the 5000m title he won on Saturday (19).
Buoyed by his championship record of 1:44.06 and victory over Laros in the heats on Friday (18), Italy’s Francesco Pernici took it out from 200 metres, followed by Great Britain’s Henry Jonas.
But as they approached the bell, Laros moved onto the Italian’s shoulder and tracked his every move, ramping up the pressure with every step. As they entered the home straight Laros kicked clear.
Pernici was beaten and now in a race for silver. As Laros gesticulated to the crowd, Pernici was overtaken by a fast finishing Justin Davies of Great Britain and Italian teammate Giovanni Lazzaro.
Laros clocked 1:44.36, with Davies taking silver in 1:44.97 and Lazzaro a mere 0.01 adrift for bronze. Pernici was fourth, just as he was two years ago in Espoo 2023.
But the day belonged to Laros, whose training group was a few strides short of a complete golden sweep in the men’s distance events at Bergen 2025.
As well as Laros’ 800m and 5000m titles, Stefan Nillessen won the 1500m, Joel Ibler Lillesø won the 10,000m and Nillessen won silver in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, just 0.31 behind gold medallist Maciej Megier of Poland.
European age group record-breaker
For Laros, this was the third European age group championships in which he has won double gold. He took a European U18 double 1500m/3000m double at Jerusalem 2022 and a European U20 1500m/5000m double at Jerusalem 2023. He is also the reigning men's U20 gold medallist from the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
"I knew I was in good shape and that I can handle the rounds," said Laros after victory.
"This combination is unique. I like to do these kind of things that not many people have tried. I like to challenge myself. It was a nice challenge and a nice experience. I want to fight for the medals at the world championships. Which event? We will see."